The Citizen Lab Summer Institute on Monitoring Internet Openness and Rights is an annual research workshop hosted at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. The Citizen Lab Summer Institute (CLSI) is a meeting place for researchers and practitioners from academia, civil society, and the private sector who are working on Internet openness, security, and rights. It brings together perspectives from a wide range of backgrounds across technical and social science disciplines. Participants range from established experts to those just entering the area.

Proposals are now open for submission for the 2017 CLSI, which will be held in Toronto, Canada from July 12-14. A full timeline on notification and program announcement is on the CLSI website.

Collaborations formed at prior CLSI workshops have led to publication of high impact reports on Internet filtering in Zambia(2016), a security audit of child monitoring apps in South Korea (2015), and an analysis of the “Great Cannon” (2014), an attack tool in China used for large scale distributed-denial of service attacks against Github and GreatFire.org.

This year, the conference is organized around five research streams: Network Interference and Freedom of Expression Online, Surveillance and Counter Surveillance, Security and Privacy of Apps, Corporate Transparency and Public Accountability, and a Special Session on Information Controls and Armed Conflict. Framing questions on each research stream can be used to guide participants on proposing workshops and collaborations.

Read more information on the 2017 Citizen Lab Summer Institute, including application process details, and travel funding requests.